A 64-bit TravelMate
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Joining Acers TravelMate family of laptop computers is the 4400 series. This addition to the Acer portfolio is aimed primarily at business professionals who are looking for a stylish and powerful laptop based on the latest 64-bit technology and combining business and multimedia features. Recently I have had the opportunity to check out the TravelMate 4402LMi model.
With its familiar folio style, silver casing and black trim, this stylish laptop measures 363 x 278 x 24mm (W x D x H) and weighs in at 3.07Kg. It is built around the latest AMD Turion 64 Mobile technology. This makes use of AMD PowerNow! technology which is designed to extend battery life. Standard memory for this model is 512MB of DDR333 memory and this can be increased up to 2.0GB using the two available slots. Storage is handled by a 60GB ATA hard disk, DVD/CD-RW optical drive and a 6-in-1 card reader that supports Secure Digital (SD), MultiMediaCard (MMC), Smart Media (SM), xD, Memory Stick and Memory Stick Pro formats.
The TravelMate 4400 series features a 15 inch XGA colour TFT LCD screen capable of displaying a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels with 16.7 million colours. Providing the driving force behind this screen is the ATI Mobility Radeon X700 chipset with 64MB of external DDR VRAM memory. Image quality is of a high standard and you also have the capability to attach an external CRT monitor which can be used simultaneously by making use of the laptops DualView feature. Two integrated speakers provide audio output and there is also a built-in microphone.
As you would expect with a product that has business pretensions, this laptop includes a range of communication options. For those still using a dial-up connection, there is a 56K V.92 modem. Both wired and wireless connectivity is supported with the former using an integrated Gigabit Ethernet card while the latter is 802.11b/g compatible and is enhanced by Acer SignUp wireless technology for stable wireless reception. Infrared comes as standard and there is an optional Bluetooth feature available. Four USB 2.0 ports and a Type II PC Card slot add to the laptops feature set.
The laptops keyboard has a 5 degree curve and features 12 function keys, four cursor keys and an embedded numeric keypad. Situated just above the main keyboard are four easy-launch buttons. These can be used to carry out actions such as launching an email client and web browser. Completing the standard input features is a touch-pad with 4-way integrated scroll button.
When not using mains power, the laptop relies on its 60W Li-ion battery pack. According to Acer, this should provide 3 hours of life. While my tests were able to confirm this figure when using general office applications, switching to a more demanding environment, such as playing DVDs, produced a lower figure. The best I could achieve was 1 hour 57 minutes which does tend to reduce your choice of movie unless you have a spare battery pack (an available option).
The laptop comes with Microsoft XP Professional pre-installed. Other software supplied with this product includes Acer LaunchManager; Acer eManager; Acer System Recovery CD; Norton Anti-Virus; CyberLink PowerDVD; and NTI CD-Maker.
Priced at around £760, the TravelMate 4402LMi laptop can fulfil the dual role of a desktop replacement computer and travel companion. It has a good set of specifications with a performance to match and a stylish appearance.
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